This Can't Be Love
by Burnette Chick
Summary: Alice Hunter meets Sirius Black, a very popular and handsome boy from her year, and begins to date him. What happens when she discovers when she might be in love with someone else? I do not own any of these characters, except my OC's.
1. A Date With Sirius?

**This Can't Be Love**

_By Burnette Chick_

**Chapter 1: A Date with Sirius?**

I was sitting under a tree on the Hogwarts grounds. I had just finished my final exam and was enjoying the June air outside. The main event that afternoon was watching Severus Snape hang upside-down in the air, to the enjoyment of most of the onlookers.

I wasn't trying to watch, but it was pretty hard to miss. Nearly everyone on the grounds (except the Slytherins) was screaming, laughing, and cheering as James Potter held up the Slytherin with his wand, revealing a sight I don't wish to discuss.

The Marauders were up to their normal, after-exam—and really during exam—activities again. I thought that they were rather ridiculous; especially the ringleaders James Potter and Sirius Black (though he was too good looking for me to care). Now they were taunting this boy, who happened to be my roommate's friend. I watched as she began to yell at James, when I heard a voice.

"Hey, Alice."

I jumped. It was Frank Longbottom, a tall, handsome sixth year with brown hair and brown eyes. He had never spoken to me before; I didn't think he even knew I existed.

"Um, hi," I replied nervously. I never was shy, but around most guys somehow my vocal chords refused to work. Frank sat down under the tree next to me. "What do you want?" I asked a bit too rudely.

"Well, you seemed rather lonely, and I thought I could join you."

I smiled. Frank seemed…a little nice and very friendly. "But why with me? I didn't even know you _knew _me," I said, a bit confused.

"I can't really get to know you without talking to you, can I?" asked Frank. He pointed to Severus, whom all the kids were laughing at. "Do you think I try to get girls' attention by doing stunts like that?"

I couldn't help myself; I giggled a little. "Well, no, but…" I shrugged.

"Well, good talking to you," said Frank and he ran off.

_That was odd_, I thought. Just as I thought this, my eyes locked with a pair of gray ones. Sirius Black smiled at me. I had to fight to keep my jaw from dropping. _Sirius Black, the most popular boy in my year, actually _smiled _at me!?! _My heart began beating furiously. I couldn't help it. That boy already gave me butterflies whenever I looked at him, but now I was close to passing out.

I felt even more nervous when he walked right up to me. "Hi, Alice," he said a smile still tugging at his lips.

I thought I was about to hyperventilate. He was just way too close. I could see his gorgeous black hair that fell so elegantly into his light gray eyes that shone merrily like stars. I could count every freckle on his face. He seemed so handsome, so perfect.

Sirius Black was actually talking to _me_. Me: the average-looking, forever single Alice Hunter. What on earth could he want with me?

"Hi," I replied, my heart racing at a dangerous rate.

"Are you going with anyone tonight?"

"Going with anyone? Where?" I said stupidly.

"To the party," he said patiently.

"What party?" I asked, biting my lip at how stupid I must have sounded.

"The after-exam party, of course." He acted like he talked to me every day about parties.

"Um, no," I replied truthfully. I never got dates to parties. Then a thought hit me. No, he couldn't be asking _me_…

"Would you like to go with me then?"

My face suddenly grew very hot and I knew I was probably blushing scarlet. "Why, sure, I guess," I said. _Sound more eager_, a voice in my head told me sternly. "I'd love to go with you."

"Done, then," he said and stalked off.

I was ecstatic. I was going to a party with Sirius Black. That was the dream of every fifth year girl at Hogwarts, wasn't it?

A contented smile came over my face as I made my way up to my dormitory and opened the door. I had a _date_.

***

_Well, my first chapter. Short, I know…sorry about that. Others will likely be longer._

_I do not own any of these characters…except my OC's… hee, hee, hee! Please bear with me because I'm an extreme procrastinator. You've got to keep after me to update. _

_Please review and tell me what you thought about it. I'd really appreciate it._


	2. Mixed Feelings

**Chapter 2: Mixed Feelings**

I came to the common room to find some dress robes to wear (with my mind swimming, wondering what Sirius would think when he sawwhat I was wearing). I saw Lily sitting cross-legged on her bed, fuming. Actually, I wasn't too surprised. When Lily gets upset about something, she doesn't cry. She just gets very angry.

"What's wrong, Lily?" I asked, concerned. Did I do something to bother her?

She sighed. "I thought Severus was my friend," she began angrily. "But he just called me a Mudblood, just as he would any other Muggleborn."

"Why do you really care, though?" I asked, trying in vain to calm her. "I mean, he is a Slytherin after all, even if he is your friend."

"I thought you understood, Alice," my best friend said angrily. Finally, she began to calm down a bit. "He's been my friend since we were little kids. He explained what the magical world was when I first got my Hogwarts letter."

I nodded and hugged her. It must be very, very hard to have a friend turn on you. "I'm sorry, Lily...but there's other things to think about. Who are you going with to the after-exam party tonight?"

She gave a dry laugh. "Oh, James Potter asked me, of course. Right after humiliating one of my best friends, I might add."

"But I thought you said Severus—"

"Just because I'm mad at him doesn't mean I have to say yes to James Potter," snapped Lily. "I'm going with Frank Longbottom."

"Frank Longbottom," I repeated. That was the sixth year that had said hi to me under the tree. Hmmm…interesting. I let a small smile erupt on my face. "Do you like him?" I asked teasingly

"Oh, I don't know," answered Lily. "He's okay, I guess. Maybe. He's good looking and all, but I'm really not too impressed with the entire guy race right now."

I smiled. "I can see what you mean sometimes. But knowing you, you'll get over that."

"Well, you also could soon enough if you ever dated. I guess you're going stag again tonight?"

"Actually…no," I replied thoughtfully, pondering what her reaction might be when I told her who I was going with.

"Oh, who is it?" cried Lily eagerly.

"Sirius," I answered.

"Oh, really!" she said incredulously. "Wow, congratulations! I didn't think he would ask you." Her voice had taken up an odd tone, as if she sincerely wished I was not going with the guy.

"Oh, thanks," I scoffed.

"No, really," said Lily. "It's nothing against you; Sirius just usually goes for different types of girls…the popular ones and, well…the easy ones. You're not that easy to get, Alice. That's something good about you."

"Well, thank you," I responded. "Now, I've got a more important discussion."

"What's that?" Lily asked.

"What should I wear?"

***

Polly and Andrea, our other roommates, came into the dorm a few minutes later. Polly declared she was going with her little brother Ralph, who was a fourth year, because she was dating a Ravenclaw. Andrea was going with Mark, a friend of hers that was in sixth year. Together, we began getting ourselves ready. The entire dorm was full of screeches and squeals as we talked about our dates. Well, as Lily, Polly, and Andrea talked about them.

I was very deep in my thoughts. I had never, I repeat: _never_,had a date anywhere. Now I was facing a date with perhaps the most popular boy in our year. And I had no idea how to act.

"I don't know what to do," I moaned as I rubbed hair potion onto my scalp.

"What, do you have a date this time?" asked Polly curiously. She knew I had never had a date to a party in all five years at Hogwarts.

"Yeah," I responded, continuing busily to run the mixture through my blonde hair. "I'm going with Sirius."

"You're _what!?!_" cried Polly and Andrea simultaneously.

I blushed and said nothing.

"You mean Sirius _Black_?" asked Polly.

"How many other Siriuses do we know?" asked Lily. "Yes, she is."

Both girls looked very surprised, and I could tell what was going through their heads. Not only was I going on a date this time, I was going with Sirius Black.

"Ooh, be careful," advised Andrea, who was the only one in the dormitory who had ever dated him. "Sirius is very physical."

I gulped. I did not need my first snogging session on top of the pressure of my first date. "Oh, no," I moaned. "I don't need to be worried about how to have my perfect first kiss 101 right now…"

Andrea laughed. "Don't be so nervous, Alice. He won't do anything you don't let him do, I promise."

"I can't help but be nervous," I admitted. "It's my first date."

Immediately all three girls started giving me all sorts of advice. Different pieces about my looks: hair, make-up, clothes, and how I acted; they even gave a demonstration about how to walk up to my date. "Keep your head held high and have good posture," advised Polly. "Guys like girls who look confident."

"And remember to smile," said Lily. "Remember, you're going on a date, not through a torture chamber."

"Oh, and whatever you do, do _not _trip and fall," said Andrea. "I did that on my first date and I did not feel good about that."

"Oh yeah, I remember that," said Polly. "Wasn't that when you were dating Remus in second year? He didn't seem to mind so much."

"Well, yeah, Remus is nice," admitted Andrea. "But he is _so_ not my type."

And just like that, the girls started up a conversation again, giving me time to think about something other than crashing and burning on my first date. I eagerly joined in; I didn't want to think about my date for the moment.

In a break in the conversation, I started to think again. I'm not shy; I just don't like certain situations. I definitely cannot stand to go to parties with alcohol. I can't stand being around drunken people. I was sincerely hoping there would be none at this party, or at least that my date wouldn't get drunk.

At last, we finished getting ready. I stood in front of the mirror and stared at myself. My blonde hair was hanging down strait, ending in the center of my back. My make-up was just so. I was having such a good beauty day.

I smiled at the mirror and I knew that I looked nice. Whether or not I looked good enough for Sirius was his problem. I decided then and there that I was going to have fun on my first date. So I left the dormitory.

***

_Thank you so much for reading this far. What will Alice's first date hold? I guess you'll just have to put up with me long enough to find out!_

_See you later. Please review. I appreciate it._


	3. First Date

**Chapter 3: First Date**

As soon as I reached the bottom of the stairs my nerves started up again like wildfire. I looked for my date, but I could not see Sirius through the huge mass of Gryffindors that were crowded inside the common room. I looked around. People were laughing and chatting everywhere with their dates, friends, and acquaintances.

Lily and I at last spotted herdate. Frank smiled at her. "Hi, Lily," he said, handing her a flower. Lily smiled at the flower: a lily. Not all that creative, but sweet in itself. "You certainly look nice this evening," he complimented Lily. _This guy knows his stuff_, I thought as I watched Lily blush with pleasure.

Finally I saw him. Sirius (who looked as handsome as ever) was talking to James Potter, who was pointing across the room at Lily and me and muttering something. Sirius walked over to me and took me by the arm. "Good evening, Alice," he said, handing me a red rose that was wrapped in plastic. At that moment I ceased to remember a single piece of advice my roommates had given me about how to act on my first date. My heart was racing and my entire body began shaking with nerves. With trembling hands, I accepted the flower. I can't even remember what I did with it. The next thing I knew, my date was leading me over to the refreshment table. Frank and Lily followed.

Lily gave me an encouraging smile. I managed a half smile in return. Somehow, Frank and Lily had already found something to talk about. I really didn't know how to talk to Sirius.

He was staring at me. I had no idea what was going through his head. Some girls could tell instinctively what guys were thinking, but I was not one of those lucky few. We stood in silence for a few moments. At last, he asked, "Do you like Quidditch?"

Yes! Just like that, things didn't seem quite so awkward. "Oh, yeah," I said. "I like the Tornados."

"Really?" asked Sirius. "I'm more for Puddlemore United."

"Really? I've never known anyone who cheered for them," I commented, smiling at the odd choice of a team to cheer for. They hadn't had a winning season since the day that they were formed.

"Yeah," said Sirius. "I think every season that they're going to win."

We continued talking as we went through the line, Sirius piling his plate full. Actually, there was so much mouth-watering food that it was hard for me not to pile my plate with it, but I knew I wouldn't be able to eat much anyway. The first date was just way too exciting.

Lily, Frank, Sirius, and I all sat down with the Marauders. Lily made a face at James, who was sitting a few chairs away from her, as he smiled in her direction. I inwardly chuckled. James was never going to give up on Lily, even though it was quite clear that she did not have the same affections for him.

Sirius and I ate, and talked about Quidditch for awhile, until I mentioned his brother who was the Seeker for Slytherin. Suddenly Sirius's face changed. "I'd rather not talk about my brother right now," he said.

This was odd. I had never seen such a look on his face. I hadn't studied the boy's face much, of course, but I could always see some form of happiness or laughter in his face; at the mention of his brother it was all gone. I wanted to ask him why he acted like this at the very mention of his brother, but I decided that would be a bad idea. I didn't know him well enough yet.

We talked for awhile. We talked about school, his friends, my friends, and my home life. I didn't ask him about his family because of how he had reacted at the mention of his brother.

As we talked, it dawned on me that I was _talking _to Sirius Black. I talk to many people, but never _him_. He actually seemed to like me okay. That seemed surprising to me, since I'm not exactly popular.

At the end of the date, I didn't want to go to bed, but since we were two of the few left in the common room, we knew we had to leave.

"This was fun," I commented, my heart in my throat. It sounded stupid as I said it. I couldn't sound _too_ eager.

Sirius didn't seem to think so, though. "It was," he said. "We should do it again sometime."

"That sounds great!" I said.

"I tell you what," he said. "I'll write you this summer."

"All right! That sounds great," I said, excited. A warm, fuzzy feeling filled me.

The last day of school was tomorrow and I was going home, but I still had letters from Sirius to look forward to!  
***

_Well, chapter 3! I know you might not be big on the review thing, and I understand that, but if you have any thoughts on the chapter whatsoever, I'd be delighted if you told me. Then I could know if this story is okay or if it totally stinks and I need to throw it away._

_See ya next chap!! _


	4. Hoping

**Chapter 4: Hoping**

As soon as I got off the Hogwarts Express, my parents rushed toward my brother and me. They were very excited because my brother Neville had just graduated and would begin his Auror training in a few months.

We climbed into the Muggle car we always use to commute to London for school. My father, a tall, thin red-haired, brown eyed man asked us, "So how was your year?"

"Oh, it was good," I replied quite honestly. It's hard to sum up a school year in any other word.

"Yeah," said Neville. "It wasn't a bad seventh year, I suppose."

"Wasn't bad?" replied my mother in a surprised, whom I resemble except for the fact that I'm tall like my father. "I'd thought you'd be more enthusiastic after just graduating, Neville!"

"Well, it's just that my best friend's cousin was just murdered by Death Eaters a few weeks ago," said Neville.

"Oh, yes, I was sorry to hear about that," said Mom. "The Prewitts are good people…."

We continued on the way in silence for at least half an hour. I was thinking about the mail I might receive in just a day's time from Sirius….

"So, how did your exams go, Alice?" asked Dad, breaking the peaceful silence.

"Oh, very good," I responded eagerly. "I believe I did quite well on most of them…except perhaps Potions. I can never seem to do well with that." _Not like Lily, anyway, _I added silently to myself. Lily always seemed to brew flawless potions, almost better than Professor Slughorn himself does, sometimes.

"Do you think you scraped an O or two?" asked Mom.

"Mmm, maybe in Transfiguration," I responded. We talked about exams for a bit longer until we arrived at home.

"Well, we're here," said Dad.

"Home, sweet home," agreed Neville. I smiled at my house, which I had not seen since April.

Mom fixed a nice dinner for us. I dug into the steak and potatoes eagerly. We ate in silence for about a minute when Neville said, "I just wanted to tell you that I'm joining a group called the Order of the Pheonix."

"The what?" asked my parents and myself in unison.

"The Order of the Pheonix is a group started by Dumbledore," explained Neville. "To fight off Death Eaters and, ultimately, You-Know-Who."

Mom objected immediately. "Neville, you can't do that! You'll be putting yourself in all kinds of danger—"

"Mum, it won't be that dangerous. The Order is a very large group of people, and we won't be doing one-on-one duels with You-Know-Who or anything."

I listened curiously. This sounded interesting. When no one said anything, I ventured, "Do you think I can join?"

Mum, Dad, and Neville all said, "No!" simultaneously. "It's too dangerous for a sixteen-year-old girl," said Dad.

Neville explained his objection. "You can't join anyway, Alice. You have to be out of school."

I sighed but wondered, _When I graduate in two years, will I be able to join the Order?_

Mom said to Neville, "I don't think I want you in this, Neville. It sounds very dangerous."

Neville replied angrily, which is unusual for him. "I'm not a little kid anymore, Mom. You can't tell me what to do. I think me joining is a good move to help the war and to help ensure the death of You-Know-Who."

With that, he marched off to his room. The room rang in silence for a long moment.

Dad looked at Mom. "Sarah, I think you ought to let him join," he said. "It sounds like a good thing to me."

Mom sighed. "I just don't want anything to happen to my kids."

"He's right, though. He's not a little kid anymore."

Mom nodded. I watched for awhile, but my parents didn't exchange any more words. I helped my mom clean up the kitchen, and went to bed.

***

The next few days crawled by very slowly. Most of what I did was sit by the window waiting for post to arrive and daydreaming. Gradually, this got boring. I knew Sirius had better things to do than write to me first thing after getting home.

Mom _did _grudgingly let Neville join the Order, with a lot of persuasion from Dad, so Neville was off at meetings a lot. My dad joined as well, so he was gone at work and meetings quite often. Needless to say, during the Order meetings it was just Mom and I at home. It usually seemed very quiet during those times.

I began to use that time to work on my homework. I would sit by the window and wait hopefully for an owl to come laden with post. I would finish my homework disappointed and without a letter.

During the daytime I liked to swim in the lake that's a few hundred meters from my house. Also, whenever Neville was home we would talk or play Quidditch outside. As neither one of us is any good, this was not a very competitive experience. We just had fun.

Of course, Lily wrote me, so we did correspond, but I still continued waiting for a letter from Sirius. By late June, I had finished my homework and was beginning to doubt that a letter from Sirius would come at all. I was going to write to him myself but I had no idea what to say to him. Besides, I had always been taught that it's never a good idea for a lady to make the first move in a relationship, To me, a conversation by mail counted as taking too dangerous a step.

The days trickled by. I was getting so bored and so ready for another school year. I went to visit Lily in mid-July and told her my problem. "He promised he'd write and I haven't gotten a single letter!"

Lily said, "I know you like him Alice, but honestly, I'm not all that surprised. Sirius is a big-time player. He probably has himself an entirely different girlfriend by now and is just too scared to tell you."

This confirmed my worst fear. "Oh, dear, so he didn't like me after all… I know I was stupid to think that date meant anything." I would have gone on, but Lily stopped me.

"Alice, this is not your fault. If it's anyone's, it's his. Let's just have a fun summer and forget about guys until September, okay?"

So that's just what we did. I stayed with Lily for about a week, and then I had Polly over at my house a couple of weeks later. She asked me,

"So, are you still with Sirius?"

I told her my story, and she smiled sympathetically. "Can we just not talk about guys right now? I think about them too much as it is," I said.

So we just talked about other things. She whispered to me a couple days later, "Your brother is really hot."

I laughed. "Neville's not much of a lady's man. But he might go for you." And that was true. Polly is so gorgeous, he just might. She kept a wary eye on him until she went home, but nothing came up between them.

***

The rest of the summer crawled by much too slowly. I didn't get a single letter from Sirius, but I gave up by late August. I did catch a glimpse him at Diagon Alley with the Potters, but I didn't get a chance to talk to him through the huge crowd of people. To tell the truth, in a way I was glad I didn't get to talk to him…

The morning of September first dawned foggy and misty. Mom drove me to London so Dad could work and Neville could do Auror training. I was scared to see Sirius, but knew I could handle it. Alice Hunter can handle it!

***

_Thanks for sticking with me thus far. Sorry this update took so long. Part of it was my fault for taking so long, and part of it was the stupid computer's fault! For some reason it wouldn't let me upload it to the website, but it's working now, apparently. _

_Horray! Sorry that the chapter's so long, too! Just had so much to put into it. Please, pretty please, review? I'd really appreciate it! _


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